LogFAQs > #934709859

Watched the live-action Aladdin finally, which left me with some pretty mixed feelings. While I liked it for the most part, I can't help but wonder if I would like it at all if I hadn't already seen the cartoon version because the presentation at times almost presupposes a certain amount of knowledge (such as the intro scene where we see an overview of characters, locations, etc). The Cave of Wonders in particular feels like it has less of an explanation, although I suppose it hardly needs one.

My other semi-criticism is that it has something of a Bollywood feel and that a few of the song numbers (particularly "You've Never Had a Friend Like Me" really drag), in addition to the song quality being a little lackluster. However, the thing that irks me the most is the SJW, girl power "I Won't Be Silent" song which was just a ridiculously stupid moment, a transparently agenda-driven song, and not even a half-decent song to boot.

I'm still split on the casting. Will Smith was alright as Genie. I kinda like Jafar, but they didn't really bother with the cartoon appearance and I missed the ridiculous beard. Plus the Jafar-Genie didn't look nearly as badass as it did in the cartoon.

ParanoidObsessive posted...

In the case of werewolves, it's entirely because a movie came out in the 1940s and the entire world was brainwashed into accepting it as fact. Silver was never a thing in werewolf myth before. Most people would be absolutely astonished to realize just how much of what they think they know about werewolves comes from The Wolf Man (their bite was literally never contagious before then, either, for example). It's the same way sunlight wasn't actually lethal to vampires until Nosferatu came out. Hollywood has seriously distorted our understanding of supernatural folklore.

Though in the modern context, silver hurts werewolves almost entirely because werewolves are now tied so strongly to the moon. Silver is the moon's metal, werewolves are clearly moon-touched, so it's mostly a case of "fighting fire with fire" or turning their own nature against them.

Sunlight didn't hurt vampires? wtf, the superstition involving vampires counting -- which you yourself acknowledge -- directly contradicts this claim. When somebody left mustard seeds out (I *think* it was mustard seeds), it was to keep the vampire counting until the morning sun could get them.

And while the Wolfman may have popularized silver as a werewolf weapon, it *already* existed in folklore to some extent and it was broadly a solution for supernatural beings so it was almost certainly seen as a historic solution as well. The moon connotation is merely how people choose to read into and justify the existing weakness.

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There are precious few at ease / With moral ambiguities / So we act as though they don't exist.